Moving Forward

Well the title says it all. Even though there has been Zero posts since late February, my ministry here in Polokwane and Southern Africa has continued. My last post occured right before I was taking a 9 day trip to visit the Ferreira's in Jeffrey's Baii which is about a 14 hour drive, but thanks to the the graciousness of my parents, it was a 90 minute plane flight. I had a wonderful time living with these incredible Missionaries. The Ferreira's have such a passion for God's glory and for providing teaching of the truth. Currently Andre's Church has about 60 members that are continuing to grow and also build up the body within the church. Andre is excited as it looks that he is close to having someone who is eligible to step up and become and elder at their church. We spent 7 days in Hankey (the Ferreira's residence) and then they suprised me and took me to the most beautiful spot that I have ever seen on any continent. This secluded beach/jungle is called Natures Valley...A truly remarkable sight..The only place that you can see a baboon and a Leapord and take a 5 minute walk and be on the beach. I then went to spend a day with one of the members of the church in St. Francis Bay. While I was at his house, we hit the beach (thats what you do on the Eastern Cape) What then happened is something that still takes my breath away. I swam with a great white..not my my choice of course. A great white shark approached from about 40 feet away, circled once and liked what he saw...he came in to about 20 feet and did another circle, and by Mercy alone, the Shark decided I didnt smell that great so he took off. So many exciting times in just a short amount of time. So I stayed in St. Francis Bay, and a huge storm came in and actually stranded me there as Andre's care gave out on the flooded Highway. Another member of the church, volunteered to come and take me from St. Francis Bay to Port Elizabeth which is where the Airport is. I tell you that body is so tight and wants to continue to reach out to the people of South Africa and I thank the Lord I got to experience it all First Hand.

End Jeffrey's Baii

I came back March 6th and immediately continued my ministry to the youth of Christ Baptist Church as well as resumed my greek and hebrew studies at the seminary. And unfortunately, I was reminded that we live in a crime filled Country...Within the first week I was back in Polokwane, our house was broken into 2 times. We were asleep both times. God was so gracious though. Due to a mental lapse, the garage door that allows you to enter the house was left wide open...however the thieves did not come into the house further than the laundry room,where they stole a bike, some shoes and then they stole the radios out of the cars. The criminals were at the foot of the stairs that lead directly up to my room, yet God kept them from entering up the stairs and into my room...We all feel very fortunate that 2 radios and a bike were the only things that were harmed during that weke...on to other subjects..Sadly 9 days in J-Bay took me out of Hebrew..It was impossible to catch up, even living with the lecturer. I'm very greatful for the time I got to spend studying at the seminary. And hey now I know exactly what those "Funny" marks in Psalm 119 mean. The tuesday that I got back I had the privledge of meeting a graduate of the seminary from Malawi namked Kwatcha. I got to talk to him and just see his Passion for the Lord and how his heart just pours out to his country and the people that live there. (More to come on him later)

Fastforward:

April 1st: The youth at Christ Baptist Church got to take off to a campsite about 20 k's away where we had our 4 day retreat. It was a wonderful time that focused on the attributes of God taken straight out of Colosians 1. God was so gracious in the speakers that we had the privledge to listen to and the sermons that they preached. At the end of the camp, 4 kids made outward professions of faith. Praise be to God for it and our prayer is that these kids continue to seek the Lord and to seek to find their joy in Him and delight in His ways. I had the pleasure of leading worship all 4 of the days for a total of 10 worship sessions. Our camp theme song was "Indescribable" by Chris Tomlin and it really just sumed up what our camp was about and how amazing our God is. I was able to get to know a couple of the guys a bit better and to pour into their lives which was a complete blessing. So camp ends and the next day is Good Friday. We were so blessed to hear Dave Beakley preach on the "7 words phrases of Christ on the cross" on friday and it was a wonderful perspective to think about. We then had the privledge on easter to head out to a village called Detaboneng which is about 70 k's outside of Polokwane. It was wonderful to be able to worship with another church in the Body of Christ. We then got to come back to CBC and see "Passion" the play that a church in Tennessee does that was quite an event to watch. Lastly, we got to reflect on the 3 days that are the most important in any believers life. and in the end we all get to exclaim with glee, HE IS RISEN! amen?

I then had 1 week in Polokwane where nothing much happened other than my preparation to enter into Mozambique on Saturday April 14th. I spent my last night in Polokwane the way I loved to..with my youth. They are a great bunch of kids and were wonderful people to spend my last night in civilization with. So Saturday 4:30 Am...our trek begins...except we dont get far..about 70'ks away in a town called Tzaneen, our Land Rover breaks down...now let me help you all with something. At this point I have absolutely no idea what Mozambique will be like, but I know that it wont be like anything ive experience...well breaking down isnt the biggest confidence booster...Ok anyway, we fix the car and off we go into Kruger National Park which is the only way to get into Phawlabora (border gate on Mozambique we needed to go to). 5 minutes into kruger we got a pleasant suprise by a 3 ton Elephant..now I dont care what you might have seen in the Zoo or on National Geographic, but when you have a 6 thousand pound 15 foot tall elephant 8 feet from your window, while your on his turf...its quite a gut wrenching experience...espeically when this elephant gives us a warning (flapping ears and twisting his neck) to get out of there...we backed up slowly and he crossed in front of us. Now the picture below just doesnt do it justice but let me say this...he was so close that if he would have dropped his trunk from the height he carried it...he would have leveled the land rover...Ok so, amazing start to the trip right? I thought so too, while I sweated bullets in the backseat (of course taking amazing photos of the back of the passanger seat as I frantically squrim in the backseat) We then proceed to see tons more elephant, some giraffe, some buffalo, (yah...ya dont wanna mess with them!) some beautiful birds that you cant even really describe, MEERKATS, and of course pumba(warthog) now to my dismay we also saw hippos...ok hippos....ugly/stinky/territorial/DEADLY! they can cut you in half with one bite and then they just leave you there...they dont want to eat you, they just want to mangle you beyond all recognition...thankfully we saw these hippo from a pretty good distance and didnt get much closer. Ok so enough of the animal junk for now at least..our whole point was to get to mozambiqe!

Kruger is covered with paved roads...well as soon as you hit the Mozambiquean border YOU CAN FORGET PAVEMENT! Say hello to the highway (picture below) that we travled on for aproxamately 1200 k's! a one lane dirt road with more ditches and soft spots (clay pits) than you can imagine! And then of course the endless bushes that could pierce right through the bottom of the car...and well throw in the forks in the road every 5 seconds that could sometimes lead you right into a flowing river, and ya now have a decent idea of what Mozambique is like...now if you have any temptation to think im tough for enduring this, im still int he back seat at this time going " AHHHHHHH" Now I dont need a 5 freeway, oh heck I dont want even a nice mcbean Pkway...but how about a road where theres more than one lane!!!! and its the national highway of Mozambique! Oh and of course my favorite part to disclose to you...Mozambique had a miserable civil war for baout 20 years up until 1994...so guess what that mean? YUP! you guessed it LAND MINES! And these landmines could literally be 8 feet off the "highway" so ya dont really want to go a trail blazin!

Well we were driving for about 14 hours which was onlly baout 250 k's in mozambique..remember the speed limit were talking about is about 25 miles an hour MAX...we finally were so tired we had to just pull off to a spot that had no "landmines here"-The UN signs, and started pulling plants and bushes to make ourselves a suitable camp site..uh i forgot..there are these brutal things called scorpions and they looove to come out at night. were not talking about your cutsie little things u find in the states...these are as big as your hand and a sting is lethal...And not to mention that they are just ugly lookin! So now we start pulling bushes a bit more carefully...until a car comes up to the road (we are 100 yards off the road) the car is actually a government official car and they say "we really think its unwise for you to camp there...it looks strange and the people in the villages might think your not here for the best of reasons so they told us to follow them to Chigubu. (background...Chigubu is where we are trying to get to) now the horrible news...Chigubu is 95 k's away...which was on the very best part of the road thankfully so it only took about 4 hours to travel that far. So we eventually reach our "destination" (notice the quotation marks) and set up our tents and conk out (its midnight at this time). So the leaders of this survey trip went to meet with the cheif...they came back with a humerous look on their face...and they spoke the words "were in the wrong village...Chigubu is 95 k's further" but we decided to stay another day there and scout out a location to help build a well in...So the Lord steered us to this location we would have never gone if not for that car coming up and saying "best be a movin" (in shangan of course). We then carried on to Chigubu and spent a day there. Then we got back on the road and travled to Marxhshela which is a village they had been to be before and built a little shelter for a church service...Let me also just let you know if you havnt figured out...theres no such thing as electricity in mozambique ANYWHERE except for Maputo, on the coast which is like a tourist city. So we did everything with a generator that would have kept the Lions away it was so loud! (come to think of it...it probably did) We ministered to the people in Marxhshela for 2 days and then moved on to Choque (spent very little time there...just to eat lunch) then we moved on to Mapai where we met a pastor that was going to take us to meet with the administrator of Mozambique in a town called chiquala chiquala (yes i meant to type it twice)

...this man then led us to the Chiquala Chiquala where Sean (trip leader) and William (trip leader) met with "the administrator" only to find out it wasnt the administrator they needed to talk to which meant, we were then going to drive 78 ks to Mabuzane where we would stay 2 nights and then sean and william would drive back to Chiquala Chiquala to meet with the administrator that they needed to see. After that time we then moved on to Dumela, which is about 5 k's from the boarder of South Africa. We spent 2 days there, 1 of which was spent cutting down 40 trees to create a huge shady structure called a "lappa". We then packed up shop and prepared to come home the next day...only one more hurdle to climb...we had to cross a flowing river that is about as wide as the colorado river...this is not an exageration. Oh and to throw in a bit of suspense, how about crocodiles everywhere! If thats not enough for you...how about the fact that except for both drivers, we all got out and walked! crocs thankfully didnt pay attention to us, but I tell you I was pretty close to having to change my underwear...these crocs are not gators...they are HUGE! thankfully there were no hippos or I would have just jumped into one of the guys arms. hehe....we eventually got accross and then got on our trek back to polokwane...which brings us to present day!

Ok 2 things..1. I apologize if it seems im complaining...I actually have nothing but praise for the trip..however I felt that telling the story of the trip in an animated way would be the best way to go. 2...now comes the time where I get to tell you what is goin in my life righ tnow...

Up until my adventure into the country of the Shangan, I did not feel called to anything in this world. I didnt feel called to stay and serve in South Africa, I dont feel called back home except to just go to college, but I didnt feel any particular calling that the Lord had placed on my heart...that all changed april 15th when I got to see mozambique (on the 14th it was pitch black...i couldnt even see the people..)(thats not meant as a race joke)...however when I met the Shangan people i felt a tug on my heart that this is where I need to be. So after serving in Mozambique for 9 days, the missionary organization that opperates out of CBC offered me to come and serve with them in Mozambique next year. This is a huge opportunirty that I have been blessed with. I have spoken to all the pastors and elders of the church and the are very encouraging and are excited about the way the Lord is moving me, as am I. I have been officially invited by CBC to come back next year in February and stay until October. However, serving with this mission is not something that they are going to pay for. They made it clear that in order to serve with them I needed to raise support back home. At this point all I want to ask you to do is pray with me. Pray that I would just put my life in the Lords hands to shape and to move wherever he would like. I have not accepted the invitation because of many reasons but the one that is most prevalent in my mind, is that I do not want to be forcing Gods hand. I the Lord to lead me there if thats where he wants me, and if he wants me to be at COC I want to be ok with that as well. The main thing is, Brother and Sisters, Please just pray with me and for me and I will be praying as well just that the Lord uses me in whatever capacity he deems.

So Mozambique:

7 men
3 Tents
9 days
15 peanut butter and syrup sandwitches (Darn it Phil Hanson I regretfully admit I tried vegamite UGHH I think smoking a cigaret would have been better)
2 land rovers
over 1500 k's
1 dirt road
...The most eye opening humbling experience I have ever had the blessing of being a part of..

Books read in the car:

Humility- C.J. Mahaney

Boy Meets Girl-Joshua Harris

Tell the truth- Metzger

Let the Nations be glad- Piper

Overall the last 2 1/2 months have been a tremendous opportunity for person spiritual growth and service and I thank you all for your prayers and continued support. May God continue to bless you and may He receieve the Glory for everything that we do!

Benjamin Pierce Coussens


PS:Excuse the Spelling errors...its very very late, and my adrenaline is pumping still, due to the fact that our house alarm has gone off twice tonight!

Me and the Ferreira family at a river in Plenscentia (40 k's from Hankey)

Me and my new friends Ruby Ayliff and Freedom at the 2007 CBC youth retreat in Die Drift, South Africa.

Mr Beakley Preachin at the Detaboneng Village on Easter

Ok this photo was taken completely zoomed out (elephant is about 7 feet away)...I don't care what you've seen at the zoo or on a national geographic magazine, there is nothing more terrifying than seeing a 6000 pound beast that is not very happy at you and in fact could absolutely destroy you and the vehicle your in. You can call him dumbo, and even "my squishy" but the only thing squishy in this situation is the possibility of you being the one being squished!

This is the one lane "highway" that we travled aproximately 1200 k's on throughout the countries of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Also, theres no air conditioner in most cars in Africa....you just roll your window down...but thats not always the best idea...a mozambiquan spitting cobra jumped eye level with the person in the passenger seat...it was quite a site..

Unfortunately (sorry dad) this is one of the stupidest things I've ever done...In Mozambique there are signs in the ground placed by the UN that say "landmines, be aware" and they mark them with sticks....however what you are looking at is me standing just inside the Zimbabwe border...uh...there are no signs where landmines are...and apparently im standing about 9 feet from 2 of them (again...sorry dad) but I mean seriously, who else will you ever meet that will say "yah, I've been to Zimbabwe :)

Say hello to my new friends of Marxshela, Mozambique...They always smile like that!

Wheres Waldo? Can you Spot me? (Mabuzane, Mozambique)

(sorry mom) This is a Mozambiquean Scorpion...and his sting is deadly...He is as big as my wrist and he is absolutely everywhere in Mozambique!

Ok because of my addiction to breath and my fear of things that can eat you...I decided to wait till I got across the river to take a picture of the crocks...hes about 12 feet long.

And last but not least... A Mozambiquan Sunset

May God continue to grow you and bless you and in all things my glory be to our great God!!!

Farewell to the familiar

Praise be to God that 3 African village boys can now say "farewell to the familiar" Last fridaynight after a smallgroup that I led at the church, 3 boys approached me after asking constant questions in the small group itself and said "We want to get saved". Once I got over the overwhelming urge to just give them all a hug, I regained my bearings and called over a Youth pastor so that we could pray with the kids. I started off praying and then these 3 boys who probably had never prayed aloud before in their lives, just poured out there hearts to the Lord. No matter how much fun that I have had on my trip or will have for the duration of my stay here in Polokwane, nothing can surpass this. The salvation of these 3 boys has caused the angels in heaven to rejoice with us! May God be praised for continuing to use the leadership here in South Africa to expand the His Kingdom. I will be meeting with the 3 boys today to discuss dicipleship and give them encouraging passages to read. Please be praying for Petre, Kabelleo, and Bezseza. Their next few weeks of informing their friends and family that they have accepted Christ could lead to the hardest trials that they will ever go through. Pray that God softens the hearts of everyone surrounding these boys so that they could also make an impact. I tell you that nothing is more exciting than seeing God just work in the hearts and lives of those around you. Thank you so much for your prayers about the ministry going on down here in South Africa. Not a day goes boy that I do not thank the Lord for the support I have back home.

Nothing is important as what I just mentioned, but since I am living in a foriegn region and everthing is very fast moving, I have more updates. I leave for Jeffrey's Bay this Saturday to spend a week with the Ferreira family, which I am extremely excited about. One thing you can be praying for me about though, is the people back here at home. When you leave, for any amount of time, its very easy to be forced to take step back with these kids. Please pray that I could continue to minister here right where I leave off before I venture down to the Bay. I am excited to see Andre and his family. It has been at least 10 years since I have seen any of them and I am quite sure that they will not recognize me as I get off the plane, so I will probably have to inform them what I will be wearing on the plane that day. Nonetheless It should be a wonderful time with former LHEF family. I will them come back and continue seminary classes for about a month until we have Easter break which will actually be taken up by Camp. I will be leading worship and leading a group of boys at Christ Baptist Winter Camp, which should be a great time. Another little tidbit I thought I would mention is that Dez (the youth pastor) has informed me that I will be playing the song I wrote (that is posted in the blog above) at youth group this friday, so that will be exciting. I am not going to mention to the kids I wrote this song, I will intro it as "I guarentee you...none of you will know this song" hehe.

While being down here I am also preparing myself for my short term missions trip to Durban, South Africa later this summer. I am on a mission trip to a different region of South africa in July of this summer. The way that the short term missions team works is that in order to be on a missions team you MUST fly out and back with the team. Which is unfortunate, cause Durban is about a 10 hour drive from here and I could save Grace and the missions team alot of money by just staying here and then going to Durban myself. But that is there rules and there is no bending them, So I have to raise 2700 dollars to go to Durban which I will start trying to raise immediately. So just pray that I would be diligent in fundraising. My parents have graciously offered to help me back home send out letters, which is such a help to me and I am so thankful to them for that.

Overall I have given you much to pray about and to continue to be encouraged about by the way that God working in lives here in South Africa. I hope that everyone back home is experiencing the same Grace and blessings that we are here. If I can say one thing, that will stick with you it is this; Please just always remember that it is always going to be in Gods time, not matter how hard you fight it!

God Bless and Glory be to our great God!

Benjamin Pierce Coussens

Its just a journey typing this manny letters!

Hello to all. I am sorry that it has taken me so long to update yet again. Unfortunately the computer is in very high demand so I havn't had as many opportunities as I thought I might have. The last week and a half have been quite eventful. Unfortunately my busy schedule has once again contributed to me being ill once again. I have gone over 39 ideas in my head on how to pull my tonsils while I am down here, but every single one of the possibilities seem offer more pain than just sticking out another episode of throat infection. For some reason it dropped into my sinus's this morning which sadly prohibited me from attending Greek this morning. I am hoping to kick this thing in the next couple of days. But, I know that God never will give me too much to handle which I am thankful for. Today hasn't been all bad times though. My parents sent me a package 2 weeks ago that contained my drivers license/advil/throat lossenges and today it arrived! Everyone was telling me that it would probably be 6 weeks or so until I would recieve my care package, but God was gracious in delivering the meds..and a valid drivers license. The truth is that not many drivers here have drivers liscense's but since my the pigmant of my skin is different than almost 85 percent of the people that live in South Africa, it would not be out of the realm of possibility to be thrown in jail for not having a licsense that is current. So I am very grateful to my parents for sendin me the package and grateful to God for the speediness in which it was delivered. Ok so updates...Last week was a bit different for everyone here, as it held something that the last several weeks didnt...RAIN! If you guys think it is dry in Santa Clarita, come try living in Polokwane. I tell you the truth my friends, that farmers were probably doing irish jigs when they saw the clouds move in. Rain here is so essential. Water bills can be exceedingly expensive due to water shortages in the area. Also I don't care where your from, you have never experienced anything like an African Thunderstorm. Lets just say that I was literally knocked off my feet by one of the strikes. Not by shock, I saw the flash of light, but the literal sound shook me to my core and I just fell helplessly to the ground. I saw a lightening bolt literally strike 15 meters away. So those are always exciting. We also experience blackouts quite frequently...this is due to a total goof up from the energy provder "eskom" The president of that company should be flogged publically for his decisions...thats right, publically...and that wont even be as severe as a punnishment as he deserves!

Ok so now that you all think I am on the borderline of having sin in my heart towards this man, let me continue. I began Greek last thursday and so far it has been a wonderful experience. It is so much easier than Hebrew (in part because hebrew looks like a bunch of different flower pettals) and the Vocab is so much easier to memorize. We have charts that have like 32 different ways to identify the articles an, a, & the...and those are just about frustrating enough to want to pull your hair out, even when you are lacking in the area...you get the point. We have our cumulative quiz tommorow before everyone heads back to their homes, and the 1st and 3rd year students come back and we once again look at flower peddals together :).. I am excited though that I will be moving into the hostle next time the 2nd and 4th year students come. That will be a total blessing, and I am sure I will be able to identify with the students better after living with them...that or I might be kicked out, when I ask to take a shower....enough said..

I am also very excited because I found out that I will be heading on a survey trip up to Gesesho, Mozambique in April. I am excited and scared at the same time. All the people at the church tell me that this trip will be the most sobering thing I have ever done in my life...Now villages down here are depressing and complete poverty envelops them...but they said that is nothing to Mozambique. Aparently we also have to be careful driving there...I found out via the wonderful internet, that Mozambique has the most Landmines of any country...and yes we will be driving through fields that have been covered in mines. Thankfully there is a road! Yes a Road that drives through the only safe zone between the border and Gesesho. Now I am sure if my parents have read this, I will be getting a phone call very soon..however to put fears to rest. The mission team that I am going with has literally taken this trip too many times to count times. It is very routine for them, so they know the road very well. But I am very thankful that God will give me this eye opening experience.on the entertainment side of things, I was recently able to visit a bird and reptile park. It was beautiful! Birds that I could only dream about ever seeing anywhere, are just flying around freely. It is a truly amazing exhibit. I also got to look at the worlds deadliest and dangerous snakes. I have a video on my cell phone of one of my friends infuriating a King Cobra, and the Cobra lunging with all its might at him...thankfully there is a layer of 2 inch plexiglass in between my dear friend Michael and the fierce slithering beast. The best part of the day was when I was turning a corner and I saw my favorite animal! Meerkats! Never in my life did I think I would ever be able to touch a Meerkat, and yet just 1 1/2 months into my venture in Africa, I was able to stroke the head of a very cute kalaharian Meerkat. Next sunday after church we will be going to the Polokwane game reserve, where I will see Rhino's Girrafes and other African wildlife. Every sunday after morning services I go with 4 of my friends on a day filled with fun activities. In a few weeks we will go to Kruger National Park to see "The Big Five" (Lions, buffalo, leapords, baboons, Cheetahs) So I am looking forward to that as well.

On the ministry front...I am continuing to lead worship for the High School Youth group here in Polokwane, even though last week I didnt sing and I wont this week either due to my throat. The group of musicians I get to play with are a total blast to worship with. The songs are a lot different here but Its an enjoyable experience none the less. I also taught sunday school last week which I will again be doing in the next couple of weeks. We are also preparing to take a retreat in the beginning of April with all the youth, so please be praying for that. I am also getting to have a lot of bible time with a guy named Wesly. He is a great kid with a wonderful heart so having time to share with him is a blessing. Please be praying for other opportuntities of fellowship and dicipleship down here. Getting to be with the students is a great learning experience as well. And of course Mr. Beakley is continuing to teach me and educate me in all different fields which has been a wonderful time. Mrs. Beakley and Mr. Beakley have been so incredible to me and have given such great advice...It is such a privledge staying here. I am currently involved in 4 bible studies which is such an incredible experience, being in so many different books at the same time...and then I have my own bible time. I am currently in Matthew and chapter 7 had such a great impact on me as it is so easy to become judgemental in a place where you seem like a "spiritual giant". So please keep praying for diligence in staying in the word as well as having a humble heart.The last update I have for you is that I will be in Jeffrey's bay from February 24th till March 4th visiting the Ferreira family and serving them for a week. I am very excited for this opportunity because I havn't seen any of them for over 10 years. I am sure that many of you who are reading this, are very excited to hear from him. He sends his love to all those back home at LHEF. I am so grateful for the opportuntity to meet different missionary families all over South Africa. The last thing I would like to do before sharing picture with you, is to post a song I wrote last week when I just had time to reflect.

"An Undeserving Love"-By Benjamin Pierce Coussens

You died for me

When you knew that

Trampling on your bloodIs all that I'd Do

But you showed me your love

And you gave me your son

When I had nothing to offer you My God

Your forgiveness flows in everlasting waves

And I am so thankful to you

That you give me life that you give me breath

When all I deserve
Is death and separation from you

But you stoop down and rescue me

You paid the price

So that I may have life
You suffered shame

Even though I defile your name

But you still show me love

Something I am so undeserving of

And you forgive a debt I can never repay

To you my God

Your forgiveness flows in everlasting waves
And I am so thankful to you
That you give me life that you give me breath
When all I deserveIs death and separation from you
But you stoop down and rescue me

Oh for all the things I've done
And all the trials I've come through

I still never give you the credit

But I see now
and I want to give you all the glory

Give you all the glory My God

Have a great week everyone. God bless and may glory be to our Great God!

This is Serabi. She is called a Boreabull. Her head is about the size of a bowling bawl and her paws rival that of a Kangaroo! Her breed is estremely aggressive and sadly is literally trained to attack black people. However Serabi is a house dog and an affectionate one at that. She is an incredible guard dog still even though shes been trained to be a sissy...But the one thing we cant stand...SHE DROOLS LIKE CRAZY! when she wants to say hi she gives you a Serabi "bath"...Shes a sweet dog though and she makes the family.

This is Baruk "Blessing" in Hebrew. Baruk was hit by a car going 40 miles per hour about 2 years ago but God graciously allowed him to survive. He is by far the cutest dog that I have ever been around and by far the smartest. He can balance himself on his hind paws for a 30 seconds while standing up and especially when food is involved... Unless you are not human, you are saying awww...when you look at this picture...which is why...

...I gave you another picture of him. I have videos that I can't post but they would have you on the floor. Baruk once saw me in the kitchen wearing a hat that covered my face, but because he didnt recognize me...he barked at serabi and serabi bared her teeth at me and charged me...she got closer and realized who it was and skidded to a stop...Baruk knowing that he had started the whole mess...came up to me and extended his paw to me as if to say "my bad". I am not joking...he literally strolled up to me and put his paw in the air, shook my hand, and walked away..hes a cutie and a smarty.

This is a Staff Elders Braii...A Braii is like a bbq except it takes about 2 hours to get your food done, and everything is done by hot charcols. This is at our senior pastors house.

Well I hope you enjoyed the visuals. have a great week.

Benjamin Pierce

The Quiet Things That No One Wants To Know..

The title for this is inspired by the culture itself here in South Africa. Walking is the only mode of transportation available for more than 80 percent of the population here in South Africa. It truly is not imaginable for us that live in the states. People spend their literal day, retreiving water from a well 15 or 20 miles away. That is it. Their sole purpose in the day is getting water and bringing it back. Sometimes they will get water from a well infested with ecoli and dyptheria but to them it is life, and there is no other way. Its something that I as a spoiled californian look at and say...its just not logical. Well it isnt...But logic is not something that is valued so highly here. Something that supports that is the AIDS epidemic. Do you know that 45 out of the 47 patience here in the clinic in Polokwane, South Africa are HIV positive? Do you know that most Teens in the villages are pregnant by 14 and probably have AIDS already? did you know that the witch doctors here prescribe an aids ridden patience the cure of raping a baby to rid themselves of the disease that pleagues them? Welcome Africa, but most of all, welcome to Satans play pen. There are more demonic posessions here in one day than there are in the States for a decade. Witch doctors grab small children and grind their bones up to make something called "smruti" which is a remedy for sickness. Want to know the sad thing about it? Everyone knows about it....no one cares...no one tries to stop anyone. Welcome to Satans abode. Welcome to the most wicked place you can imagine.

Its not like the movies, they dont where white makeup and walk around villages casting spells (they can, but its not common) they are just regular people that everyone looks to, and sadly follows. It is flat out Evil...Pure and simple, Africa is a dwelling of the Devil and he is welcomed with open arms by the people here. So instead of thinking about that poor child on tv that has no food in Mozambique, pray for his soul, because no amount of paup or meat will ever last for eternity. Please just pray for these people...They are lost...they are so sickened by satan, and they dont see it. They kill their own, they die in vain, and sadly they die in mass quantity. It is common for a family to lose 1 family member a year. The life expectancy in the villages surrounding polokwane is 47 right now. this place is sick...in more ways than one.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, its time to give a bit of an update. I am doing well, and enjoying seminary classes. I have also gotten the opportunity to get closer to the youth in the last couple of weeks. Its been wonderful, thank you for all your prayers. Tommorow I am going to be singing an accapella duet for worship which will be interesting because I never have sung acapella before. Tonight we will go to the Pastors house for a staff dinner, which gives all the youth a great opportunity to talk and unite. Also tommorow I will be teaching sunday school to the 5th 6th and 7th graders at church so please pray that the God would just touch these childrens souls, as maybe 1 of them is saved. And of course the big event of february. We will be going over to another missionaries' house to watch the superbowl live at 1:30 am on monday morning. GO BEARS!

Ok thats it for now, I will update again either tommorow or monday with pictures. May God bless you all abundantly

Benjamin Coussens

A Birthday Present That I Wish I Could Exchange For A Pair Of Socks...

That title might be prompting you to ask 2 questions. Has this kid gone off the deep end? Or man how depressing is his birthday gift if he would exchange it for socks. I am quite sick and I started feeling ill just as my birthday approached. I started praying to the porcelain gods at about 11:30 pm last night and didnt really relent till about 9:00 am this morning. I have a fever probably around 102. Its been a rough birthday to say the least. However I am not going to let a bedridden day ruin my time here so I have some updates for you. About 7 of us youth leaders took a retreat to a place called hanngesburg which is about 80 kilometers from Polokwane. It was an absolutely beautiful sight and we all enjoyed it immensly. We discussed how we were going to approach the youth group over this upcoming year. It was a very productive time. We also saw all kinds of monkey as we were driving up the property. Africa really is like no other place in the world.

In addition to leading the Youth worship band and being a leader in the youth, I have taken on Seminary classes. I am currently enjoying Hebrew very much as well as my English class. For anyone that doesn't know what an English seminary class is, lets just say we dont work on our prepositions. The class teaches the students how to correctly assemble a sermon by picking apart the context and parts of speech used in the verse. It is a class where the students get preached at a lot, but when Mr. Beakley is the one doing the preaching, everyone just loves to listen. The Beakley family are an amazing family and have helped me learn so much about different aspects of being here and of things that I learned that I can take home and apply as well. Mrs. Beakley has been so kind in babying me today as she brought me anything from sprite to noodles. It its great feeling like part of the family down here. But at the same time I miss my family dearly as well.

We have a student here from the Democratic Republic of Congo and he is such a blessing to the seminary. If you have ever heard of "Invisible children" he is one of them. He was recruited to be in the military at 13. He got ambushed many times and all his friends died right in front of his eyes, but by the grace of God, He brought the student here to the seminary to learn and to bring back the truth and good news to the DRC. His name is Lucky and he smiles alot so everyone just calls him smiley.

As far as my personal ministry goes here, I will just use the phrase babysteps. There really is no concept of time down here so the next 4 months could go by like 1 week. Decipleship here is very difficult to get into as the kids rarely desire a relationship with the Lord. There is one kid named Wesly who is a total blessing and has a heart for the Lord. He and I have talked many times and I am encouraged to get to know him.

Ok well that is all for now, except of course I have many pictures to upload for you to see. Hope you all are doing very well. Please continue to pray for the ministry to Christ Baptist Church and seminary here in Polokwane. Also if anyone would ever like me to send them an email just leave a comment on this blog with your name and e-mail address and I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can. God Bless you all!

Benjamin Pierce

This is a picture yours truly near the dam, at the bottom of the retreat property where us 7 leaders went. It was beautiful, and there were bridges and nice little quaint things all around.

This is a photo taking from the retreat property itself looking at the dam. You cant see them in this picture but there are monkeys in the trees.

"whatchu looking at fool"- Bens Assesment of what is going on in this Heyenas head.

As you can see there are plenty of souls to reach. This is the jr youth group grades 1-8. There are on average 50-60 youth that show up on friday afternoons.

This is the kids after bein introduced to "Red Rover Red Rover" If it would have been the guys it would have been called "AHHH" I have never seen more competative boys than here in Polokwane.

Ok well thats it for this time. Hope you enjoy the photos and the words. God Bless!

Grace, Grace, God's Grace

Ok so I haven’t done nearly as well as I had hoped as far as updating my blog. However, I am determined to not let it slide another moment longer. As soon as I posted my first entry I started packing for a weekend towards Joberg/Pretoria. I must share with you that I had a very hard time on the trip down towards Jobgerg. I kept missing home with every mile marker I passed and I kept seeing and hearing things that reminded me of different aspects of home that I was longing for. So as D.A. Carson had said about a week earlier at the conference in Pretoria, “Sometimes the best spiritual decision you could make is to just sleep”. He was indeed right. I knocked out for about 1 hour until I heard a “Boom” and then the car felt very bumpy for about 30 seconds after that until we all realized what happened…we had hit a person…jk…sorry (that is humor actually considered funny here)…we of course had a flat tire. So we pulled off to the side of the road to fix it. This is one experience that I will never forget. God was so good and so gracious to us. We ended up getting a flat tire right next to a freeway off-ramp which just so happened to have a gas station about 50 meters from the off-ramp, which also happened to be the exit we would be using to arrive at our destination even though we didn’t know it at the time. If you don’t see God’s hand in a situation like that, you are blind.

In addition to having a gas station very close to where we pulled over, two highway maintance employees stopped and changed the tire for us. It truly was a time where you just sit back and thank God for being so gracious to us. We ended up getting Josh down to the Airport just fine. After we delivered Josh to the airport we headed for Joel James (seminary grad and pastor of Grace Fellowship) in Pretoria where we stayed the next two nights. We enjoyed a nice thunderstorm in Pretoria before going to bed. We made our way to Joel’s church where we all barely survived awake. We already had made lunch plans however so we went over to our hosts house. They needed to go shopping so I stayed at the house and “kept watch”…Yah right…I fell asleep so hard that when I woke up I didn’t even know that the Beakley’s had left to go to the store…but in reality…they had gotten back already. From there we went back go Joel’s house and spent another night. The next morning Mr. Beakley and I awoke early (6:25) to go look for a tire to replace the spare we had put on the combie. We ended up putting 4 tires on the combie and off we drove to Die Oog (it’s a resort) We enjoyed a day full of swimming and going down a slide that would be labled at best “hazardous” in America…Literally I can see someone being killed on the thing. But it was still fun. Then we spent the night under the most amazing looking sky singing choruses of worship songs. Then we hit the sack..thats about what the bed felt like and awoke the next morning to once again hit the road and come back to home sweet up Polokwane.

Since we got back not much has gone on. We had youth group on Wednesday which went very well and then we had Sunday services tonight. This week I have been working really hard on rehabilitating my right bicep. Its quite challenging but its all part of learning patience. This week will be a challenge as well as I start engaging in seminary classes. 5 Seminary classes is my load so far but we’ll see what it ends up being in about 2 weeks. Tommorow I will work out in the morning and then get supplies set up to give to the new seminary students and then I am off to watch the Patriots rock the Colts (hopefully). Ok well its late. I will post pictures later. God bless everyone.

This is a picture of the typical scene here in Polokwane. A kid who is not with his parents, who probably dont see their child for 5 days or so. The thing that absolutely blows me away and that might shock you, is the fact that you might find this kid with his baby brother on his back walking down a street on any given day.

This is literally a typick sunset here in South Africa. I can't explain to you the color differential between sunsets here and in America. What I wish I could take a picture of is the stars. At night you feel enveloped in stars. Satellites are also very often found crossing eachother in the sky at night.


AHHH yes...the Combie. This is the vehicle that the Beakly + benjamin + Stephanie clan operate in every day. This is also the car that you have just read about as breaking down in Pretoria. You can easily fit about 18 people in the car...of course about 4 of those would be sitting in the trunk but that is not uncommon here in South Africa. This is also the car that I learned to drive on the right side of the road with...The combie and I have become quite aquainted with eachother.

A typical day in the village. This is the village of Venda. It is quite a bit north but the people up there are lovely. I will be going there in about 2 weeks time.

Well that is it for now. Goeie Dag en lekker slaap.

In the beginning

So about a month ago I had the chance to hang out with some students that had just arrived home from their trip to Israel. They all told me that updating a blog is difficult. I thought they were wrong, until I actually started to try to maintain one. I arrived here about 2 weeks ago and have experienced so much in such a short amount of time. I arrived when the Beakley's were at a conference in Pretoria which was being taught by Mark Dever and DA Carson. It was quite a blessing to hear their messages, but at the same time I was so sacked from being jet-lagged that I wasn't even sure that I knew which direction was up or down. After the conference was over we came to what i now call "Home" here in Polokwane. I love the house and the surroundings. I like something Mrs. Beakley said after I had a very scary ride on my first night here through tambiesa (the only comparison I could make is the worst spot of south central los angeles) "its the same as anywhere else, but you really feel it here...Your in the Lords hands now" How true it is. It is so different here than in the states in so many ways. There are really no rules...The crime rate is astronmical, and the way crime is conducted is almost business like. This is a place that needs God so badly, and that brings me to my ministry here. I will be working as the worship leader for the high school band, as well as a leader for the high school group, as well as a teacher and activities coordinator for the jr youth. In addition to working with the youth, I am taking 1. English 2. Greek 3. Hebrew at the seminary as well as dediccating the next 5 months to learning the language here. I am quite busy but am thoroughly enjoying myself. Mr. Beakley has passed on so much knowledge to me about life and especially how to read my bible (techniques). They have spoiled me rotten while ive been here, taking me to see lions and a beautiful waterfall which I will post pictures of in just a few minutes. However, it is midnight and I do need some rest. I hope everyone is doing very well back home. I miss you all and God Bless!

Verse of the week: Acts 5:41- And the rejoiced knowing they had been considered worthy to suffer shame in his name.

Benjamin Pierce

this is a monkey at the resturant we ate at in Tzaneen (i was sitting at our table when I took this picture...he later literally stole a crape right off of our table...and he wasnt to big on sharing either...selfish monkey.. Me in front of the Debengehni Falls He might look cute but he already knows that in 2 months you could be his dinner. The way that a cub looks at you as though you are still its prey, is quite humbling. But he was fun to play with, and at this cubs age i actually let him bite my finger..its fine at first, but when he starts tugging is when you know that his time of becoming Mufasa is not so far away.. If you would like to know what its like to stand 8 feet from a male lion...this picture wont help you because he looks so cute and cuddly, but when you know that he could literally jump on top of you without taking one stride, your words are not so much AWWW and lot of AHHHH hehe.

Well I hope you have enjoyed these pictures so far, I will post pictures of Polokwane next time I post a blog. God bless everyone!